Untitled"Root Causes" of the World AIDS Epidemic2:
UntitledWorld Dichotomy
. By the beginning of the 1990's, progress was being made in Western countries in the fight against AIDS. In the
UntitledUnited States
, new cases of AIDS and deaths due to AIDS peaked by the mid 1990's and started a significant decline thereafter. Similar trends were observed in other Western countries. These welcome developments were due to progress in screening, improved medical care in controlling the progression from HIV infection to AIDS status. Discoveries in antiretroviral and combination drug therapies have allowed people living with HIV or AIDS to live longer and healthier lives. With these medical breakthroughs and vigilant prevention campaigns, HIV infection and AIDS are slowly being contained in many Western countries. However, the more optimistic containment of AIDS in Western countries is marred by the recent resurgence of HIV infection, especially among young people.

By the end of the year 2001, more than twenty years since AIDS was first diagnosed in the United States, HIV has infected about 60 million people worldwide; about 5 million in 2001 alone. About 25 million have died, so far. Another 16,000 more are infected each day, the majority of these are between the 15 - 49 age range. Of the 40 million living with HIV/AIDS today, more than 95% live in less developed countries (LDCs). "AIDS-related illnesses and -complications" has become the leading cause of death in Africa and the fourth leading cause of death, worldwide.

Sub-Saharan Africa. About 70% (28 million) of the people with HIV/AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In some of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 10% of the total population, and still much higher among those in the 15-49 age range, are infected with HIV. Most of these were contracted through "heterosexual" transmission -- unlike in North America and Western Europe, where "men having sex with men (MSM)" was the predominant. South Africa alone is estimated to have about 4.5 million living with HIV/AIDS.

Latin America. The Caribbean and Central America have the highest rate of HIV infection, especially Haiti. For the region, more than 1.8 million adults and children were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2001; an estimated 210,000 adults and children were HIV infected by the end of 2001. (UNAIDS). Sex between men and women is a significant mode of HIV infection in many Latin American countries, especially in the Caribbean. However, men who have sex with men is still the major mode of transmission in countries like Costa Rica, Mexico. Brazil and Argentina have high incidence of transmission through injecting drug use (IDU)a.

Eurasia. More recently, there is also an alarming increase of HIV infection in some of the Eastern European countries, Russia & Central Asian States (CAS). What was once a rare disease, even during the early 19990's, has exploded alarmingly -- the fastest rate of infection around the world -- during the past few years. There were more than 250,000 new HIV infections in 2001 alone; so that as of the end of 2001, more than 1 million people in the region are living with HIV/AIDS . Many of these HIV infections were due to injecting drug use (IDU) and prostitution.

Asia. In comparison with Africa or the Caribbean, the rate of HIV infection is much lower (<1%) in many of the Asian countries. The exceptions are Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand where the rates of infection exceed 1% among 15-49-year-olds. However, with the huge total population of the Asian region, the even the low percentage translates to more than 6 million in South and Southeast Asia, and 1 million in East Asia and Pacific, living with HIV/AIDS.

China and India alone have more than 1 billion peoples each, so that even a small percentage increase in HIV infection would translate into a significant number of people living with HIV/AIDS. India, for example, has about 4 million people living with HIV/AIDS, one of the highest in the world. While this translates to less than 1% of the total population, this national average in India hides the high incidence of HIV/AIDS in regions, like the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu; each with populations of more 55 million -- larger than most countries in the world. In these regions greater than 3% of pregnant women and greater than 10 % of STD patients are infected with HIV, in some of the tested areas.

If the "flash point" is ever reached, it is possible that the Asian region can rival the pandemic in Africa.

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